Awareness
by clover bookcat
Summary: It's too difficult not to look at her that way, but maybe passing time can make it easier. Roy, family, and growing up.


**A/N: Because Roy/Aria is love, even if I'm one of the few who thinks that way.**

**Warnings: Twin-fic (Aria and Aaron both present), other differences from in-game material, Roy/Aria main pairing and slight implications of Cammy/Aaron.**

**Disclaimer: Why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned any copyrights to this?**

* * *

He tries not to be aware of her.

At first, it's easy. The resemblance between Aria and Aaron is unmistakable – and from what he remembers of Kyle, they both take after him instead of Mana. They have his red hair, and his brown eyes.

She's just Kyle's daughter, he tells himself.

When Tanya first sends him to assist Mana on the farm after Kyle leaves, he's surprised at how energetic she is. Where Aaron is content to cling to his mother's skirt, Aria can't seem to sit still. She follows him outside the house to observe him as he toils the earth, and begs him to let her help.

He gives her the hoe, which he figures is a safe enough choice as she's less likely to kill herself with it than a hammer or a sickle. She can barely lift it to swing (understandable, since it's twice her size) and it discourages her. He ruffles her hair and tells her try to again when she's a bit older, and then Mana calls them back inside for dinner.

Two seasons after he takes up his job as a farmhand, Aria brings Aaron along to try again. He's amused, and considers telling her that two seasons isn't even long enough for her to grow an inch in height, let alone grow muscles or increase stamina, but she looks so determined that he relents. She manages to swing it in an arch and make a firm dent in the soil before it gets stuck and refuses to budge.

Aaron consoles her with a hug and they spend the rest of the day watering the potatoes.

When she's old enough to go outside on her own to play, he teaches her the joys of tree climbing, as well as its various uses when being chased by an angry Tanya (which tends to happen at least twice a week). This lasts until she gets so good at scurrying up scratchy bark that she's even nimbler than him, at which point they turn it into a contest to see who's faster.

Aaron, fleeing from Mana after accidentally spilling tea over her freshly washed dress, proves to be quicker than either of them.

When she starts school, he stops visiting the farm. It isn't because he doesn't want to – and, he finds, to his surprise, he _does_ want to – but there isn't really any reason for him to help out on the farm when Aria and Aaron are physically capable of manual labor. Barrett and Mana, as their teachers, will help them learn any skills they will need.

It's boring, if he's honest.

The hours that he previously spent working outside must now be devoted to his education, but even he can see that he's so far behind the rest of his class that he's got no hope of catching up. He decides – to Mana's dismay – that studying wasn't really helping him anyway. He takes to his trees, leaping from branches and pulling pranks on the townspeople until one day his mother finally catches him and drags him home by the ear.

"Why," she shouts furiously, "are you behaving like this? You could be a scamp before, but it was never this bad!" The look in her eyes is murderous, but he's shocked to see hurt there, too; he's disappointed her, and all the pride he hadn't known she placed in him suffers for it.

So he tells her – with much shuffling of feet and mumbled apologies – about his lack of enthusiasm in anything remotely resembling paperwork. He can't cope with it, and now he doesn't even have fieldwork to distract him.

In the end, she gives him a short reprimand for feeling sorry for himself and tells him to go apologize to all the neighbors (he was planning to anyway, since even he was unsure whether hiding Gordon's church rosary on the women's side of the bathhouse was a bit too far) before striking up a deal with him: attend Barret's blacksmithing classes and she would take him as her official apprentice, teaching him the basics of the sword.

"I don't see why not. You're old enough to start, after all," she says, and chuckles at the look of joy and surprise on his face. "Just none of the technical stuff yet. Get a few successful forges under your belt, and maybe then we'll talk. By the way, if you're bored, you ought to visit Cammy. She comes around looking for you because she wants to play," she adds.

He feels a twinge of guilt. He's been so caught up in his own self-pity that he has neglected his best friend, and that is the one thing he knows that best friends should never do. He decides to see Cammy and apologize to Gordon in one go.

Cammy meets him at the church door, looking thrilled. She invites him inside, a steady stream of babble already flowing from her mouth: ohmygoodnessit''!

He grins to himself. Cammy is the same as always.

Gordon accepts the apology with studious grace and tells him all is forgiven. Then he asks if he would kindly give the charm back now, and he must finally admit to sneaking into the women's side when Julia wasn't looking but he didn't mean any harm by it, honest, and no one was washing at the time anyway. Gordon's face is a bright shade of magenta like he's never seen before, and Cammy is rolling around on the floor. Even Dorothy, from where she sits in the corner fixing a stitch on Fern, gives a very small giggle.

The next few weeks pass by in a blur. He follows up on his side of the bargain and obediently listens to Barrett's lectures, and it really is a lot easier to sit through a class when he's got forging practice to look forward to in the afternoon. He worries that Mana might be offended that he doesn't go to her classes anymore, but she tells him after bumping into him in the town square she's just glad he's gotten back his enthusiasm for school, regardless of the form it came in.

His encounters with Aria and Aaron become very rare, as both are usually out in the fields during Barrett's classes and he's so tired after Tanya's lessons that he doesn't have it in him to go pay a visit. He knows they're alright, though, from the neighbors; they're Kyle's children, after all, and the village owes him many favors.

Besides, they're both social and have no qualms about entering someone's house without knocking, so they're a bit hard to miss.

After Julia hands the bathhouse over to Cammy, she makes it her mission to keep him informed of their behavior. Yes, they're doing fine, no problems with profits that I know of, they've been visiting Yue a lot lately for goods and I'll make sure they stay out of the dungeons, don't you worry!

He's not sure he agrees with that last one – they've inherited their father's adventurous tendencies, he knows, and may want to go looking for him besides. Neither Aria nor Aaron truly believes Kyle is dead, and he can understand why because this is _Kyle_ they're talking about, even if no one else in the village will believe them and Mana is too afraid to get her hopes up to trust them. Eventually, they'll want to explore.

But then, they're still children, so perhaps it's not worth getting worried over. Adventurous they may be, but not stupid. And besides, they have yet to learn to take care of themselves and their mother, let alone start taming monsters to keep in a barn. He pays Cammy the gold for the day's wash, thanks her for the information, and bids her goodnight.

Then he sees Aria sneak into the forest, and all his old assurances go flying out the window.

He's not sure what to make of it, at first. How long has it been going on? Does Cammy know? Do Aaron and Mana, for that matter? Thinking of Mana, he wonders, for the first time in his life, if he should snitch to an adult. He'd never thought there had been reason enough to betray someone's trust before, but he's not so sure now.

Eventually, he calms down enough to think about it a bit more rationally. It wouldn't do, he decides, to go running to Mana at the first sign of trouble. If Aria was risking her life in the dungeons, then surely she would have some sort of reason and Aaron would know about it – they did everything together. And if Aaron, the sensible and levelheaded twin, thought it was alright to break the rules despite so much danger, then it couldn't be because he felt it was alright but because he was actually risking his life along with hers.

That last thought makes him worry more.

Either way, he figures it's redundant to beat around the bush. The next day, for the first time since Tanya dragged him home, he skips his lessons and goes to visit the farm.

The twins are surprised to see him, but welcome him all the same. At least, until he cuts to the chase and demands to know what's gotten into their heads, and then Aria is glaring at him menacingly and Aaron is clutching at his watering can, clearly mortified.

Neither reaction surprises him, really.

"What's it matter?" Aria has changed her stance to get between himself and Aaron. Overprotective as always, he thinks, but it's a bit pointless as he hasn't really come to try and hurt either of them. He just wants answers.

He says as much, and she crosses her arms over her chest. "Since when have you known?"

He explains seeing her run into the forest that night, and Aria narrows her eyes before letting out a sigh. "I should have guessed that something like this would happen. I'm sorry – _we're_ sorry – for not telling you." She bows her head.

Aaron mimics her, and it's then that he remembers how young they are, that they're simply trying to do what they think is best. _He's_ not even an adult yet – he has no right to talk. Less than a season ago, if he had been in their place, he might have done the same.

Perhaps he could have handled this better, but at least the truth is out now. He puts his hand on her head, and he feels her neck stiffen. Gently, he explains that he's sorry, too, for demanding answers so harshly, but he understands their feelings. It's just that he's worried, as the other villagers probably would be, that they'll get hurt or killed, and that's the last thing anyone wants.

Aria relaxes under his touch, and looks up at him through her bangs. He can see the familiar determination there, the pain that came from the loss of a loved one and the defiance that didn't want to give up hope.

Realizing he's been in the same position for at least five minutes, he snaps his hand back hastily.

Aaron steps forward. "Cammy knows," he murmurs. "She caught me on a run a couple weeks back. No one else does, though."

He asks about Mana, and the twins glance at each other guiltily. "No," they both answer, and he sees the hurt in their eyes double. He knows how they hate to hide things from their mother.

"She can't know," Aria says fiercely.

"But at this rate, she will," Aaron adds miserably.

He concedes this point. Mana is a sharp woman, several years of teaching having honed her skills of perception. Moreover, she's friends with Alicia, who gives her the daily scoop on everyone in town. There is also the matter of the other townspeople, he points out. If Mana doesn't discover their nightly adventures, then Alicia certainly will. Not to mention, if they continue their exploration of the dungeons, then they will need supplies and weapons and Ray, Tanya, and their grandfather will definitely ask questions.

The twins remain silent.

He thinks he knows the source of their discomfort, but prods anyway. Why are they so insistent on keeping this matter quiet?

"They won't believe us," Aaron says at last. "We want to find dad, and we know he's out there. But everyone in town thinks he's dead. I think they'd stop us from leaving the village for years if they found out what we wanted."

Personally, he thinks that's a bit over the top, but they do have a point.

"We know he's alive," Aria says. "I can feel it, and so does Aaron. And the only places we can investigate right now are the dungeons. Even if we don't find anything, we won't be satisfied unless we search. Please, let us go."

They're so earnest and their answer is so much like something Kyle would say, he thinks, and shakes his head in bemusement. He agrees to keep the secret, if only for a little while. But, he warns them as expressions of relief cross their faces, they'll need to be prepared. This isn't something they can keep hiding forever.

"We know," they say solemnly, "we're just not ready for it yet."

"But thanks, Roy," Aria adds, giving him a smile. "If I wanted to let anyone know, it would've been you."

His heart skips a beat, but he ignores it.

* * *

He's a man of his word. He doesn't tell anyone – not Barrett, not Tanya and certainly not Mana. He even thinks he's managed to pull off a good act, despite a few curious glances here or there. He does confront Cammy about it, but she's surprisingly straightforward.

"They know what they're doing," she tells him. "They know how to prepare themselves for the monsters in the dungeons, and they understand the risk they're taking. Those two are serious about this – but you understand that too, right?"

He does. They both do, and so they don't tell.

The secret does cause problems, though, as most do. The twins get injured when they explore the dungeons, and it gets harder and harder to keep his silence when he sees Aaron covered in bruises or Aria with cuts and scrapes on her legs. He tries to convince them to at least buy potions from the clinic, but they don't want to get Ray suspicious and potions are expensive anyway. Both children try to improve their alchemic skills so they can start making their own, but it's a difficult class and neither will be creating healing elixirs any time soon. When the wounds start getting more serious, the twins come to him and Cammy.

"We have herbs," Aaron explains, handing Cammy a rainbow-colored bunch, "we just don't know how to use them for treatment. We've been eating them raw so far, but lately it doesn't really seem to help."

"Side effect," Cammy says absently, fingering through the bouquet. "The more your stamina increases, the less the plants will heal your wounds, because there's more to mend."

Surprised, he asks her where she learned such a thing.

She spreads the plants out on the floor of her room, dividing them into groups by the colors of their leaves. "Julia told me. The baths heal your wounds so well for a reason, you know. Now help me separate these – I need to keep track of which ones to use for this ointment."

"Can we help, too?" asks Aria.

Cammy looks at her and raises an eyebrow. "Didn't your last alchemy lesson end with smoke coming out of the school building?"

"Er…yes?"

"Then no. You two are injured, anyway, so you should be resting. Go sit on the bed."

Aria pouts a little, but obeys anyway. Aaron joins her. He winces as they sit down, as he can see several deep cuts that reach up to Aria's thighs and Aaron's arms have ugly bruises that spread past his shirt sleeves. It makes him wonder just what kind of monsters they've been encountering in the dungeons.

Cammy, meanwhile, is busy stuffing as many green, orange, and yellow leaves into a bowl as she can. When she finishes, she turns back to him and his stomach sinks in dread. He recognizes that smile.

"I hope you've been working diligently at forging," she says sweetly. "These leaves are the stringy, stretchy kind, so you'll need a lot of strength to mash them. They need to break up to the point that they become a paste."

Her tone holds no room for argument and he knows from experience that anything he says will be deflected, so he grudgingly takes the bowl and spoon she lends him and gets comfortable on the floor.

It takes a while, but eventually the mixture turns puke-like in color and in texture. He eyes it with disgust.

"Don't be such a wimp," Cammy snorts. "It's just medicine." She takes the bowl from him and adds a powdery substance she ground on her own, a combination of purple and red leaves. Mixing them together turns the medicine a grayish color, and adding the blue leaves then turns it into a gel. Cammy heaves a sigh of relief when she sees the final contents before telling him to fetch the bandages from the cupboard.

By the time he gets back, Cammy has managed to convince Aaron that no, he cannot tend to his injuries himself, as well as somehow wrestled Aria to the floor without aggravating her wounds so she can have him bandage her legs. Aria is not pleased.

"I can do it myself," she mutters angrily. He's not sure if he's supposed to hear, but decides to pretend he doesn't anyway.

He tells her to stick out her feet. She does not comply.

"It's embarrassing," she admits, face flushed. He doesn't see why. It's not like he hasn't seen humiliating sides of her before, especially since he used to take care of her.

"That's not it," she says, and her voice just gets smaller the more she talks. "The problem is the idea of you…touching…me."

He wonders if Cammy is making Aaron feel this self-conscious.

He jerks her foot towards him a bit sharper then he means to and tells her that if it's so strange, she should try not to get hurt in the dungeons as often.

"Today was just worse than normal. We met a really big monster today – the stronger ones seem to enjoy hanging around the lower parts of the chambers." She angled her foot and wiggled to get more comfortable. "I think maybe we should try and tame a few monsters. Byron told me the other dungeons have even more powerful creatures, so it would be nice to have support. Plus, Aaron would like having a pet to keep."

Glad she seems distracted by the change in subject, he takes the opportunity to slap some ointment onto a spare cloth and starts wrapping it around her leg. He probably needs some distracting, too. Where are they going to keep the monsters if they tame them, anyway?

"We could build a barn," she muses. "We've got some extra wood since Aaron got first place in the festival the other day, and we've been saving money. Grandpa told me some types can produce goods, too, like milk and eggs. It could help with income."

He's reached her knees. How are they going to capture them, then?

"I dunno. I looked through some of Dad's old stuff yesterday, but I couldn't find anything. D'you know anyone in town who's good with monsters, Roy?"

Thighs. Cecilia's half-elf, so she's not afraid of monsters, isn't she? He's heard Jake complain that she goes into the forest sometimes without telling anyone.

"Ah, right, Ceci! Great idea. I'll go ask her tomorrow before class."

There, finished. He stands up and brushes himself off, then offers her a hand. Aria takes it and looks up at him sheepishly. "Thanks. You're good at this sort of thing, aren't you?"

He shrugs. You tend to pick up things when your house is filled with a lot of pointy objects.

She pokes the material sticking out from under the fabric of her shorts. "Still, it's not uncomfortable at all. Maybe you should start working at the clinic?" Her grin turns impish. "You'd make a good nurse. Better than Dorothy, I'd bet."

He flicks her forehead and says that he'd rather stick with manly activities like forging for now, but thanks for the offer.

Meanwhile, Cammy and Aaron are spread out in a rather awkward position on the bed. Aria notices. "Um, Cammy, what exactly are you doing to my brother?"

* * *

The twins keep searching, and the seasons pass by. He'll admit he's impressed – they learn how to juggle the farm, dungeon exploration, and schoolwork in the course of just a few weeks. While searching for medicinal books, Aaron discovers the advanced magic tomes in the school library, and is surprised he can read them fluently. When Cammy suggests it might be because Kyle is his father, Aaron laughs a little nervously but looks proud nonetheless. Everyone is relieved to have found a better solution to the problem, and the secret can last just a little bit longer.

They expand their hunt further and outward, to the other dungeons with the peculiar machines. The two come back with strange stories of monsters and mysterious runes, covered in injuries, and always carrying a bitter disappointment that they haven't found anything useful.

It's the third spring after the covert excursions begin that Aria runs up to him, breathless, hair mussed and a large cut under her eye. Apparently, she was in such a hurry to talk to him that she hadn't gotten Aaron to heal it for her.

"We've found something," she tells him, pulling him into the shade of a blossoming cherry tree so as to keep away from supervising eyes. "It's a secret dungeon, a hidden one we couldn't get to before. You have to produce the rune orbs a certain way to make it work, and it took us forever to figure it out because we weren't sure if those tablets were important, but that's not the point. We got in, and…I don't know how to explain it, but I have a feeling this is what we've been waiting for, Roy. The minute we took a step into that hallway, I swear it was like…like something was _calling_ us."

She's clearly expecting him to be as excited about this finding as herself, but somehow her story has the opposite effect. Maybe his younger self would have been energized, encouraged by the boisterous energy she is practically radiating now, but at present he can only feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his stomach fill with anxiety.

He shakes his head slowly, trying to work his mind through to the conclusion his gut has already reached. It could be a trap, he tells her. There's no reason to think that this new finding won't involve danger.

Her bubble of happiness fades away, replaced with one of irritation. "Roy, you don't understand. You weren't there. There's no way that could be a trap – Aaron and I both felt it, at the same time. And even if it was, if both of us go in to face it, there won't be any problems."

He opens his mouth to protest again, but she cuts across him instead. "Look, if you want to think that way, fine. I'm going anyway. I just thought you'd be more excited about it since we actually made some progress, that's all!" The last sentence is thrown haplessly over her shoulder as she sprints away from him before he can stop her.

She leaves silence behind her, and he squats in the grass and runs his hand through scraggly hair in frustration.

Aria being upset with him isn't really anything new; it's been happening a lot lately, now that he stops to think about it. Cammy mentioned before that it was a girl thing, so he'd left the topic well alone.

What concerns him is that when she'd left, her brown eyes were filled tears.

In general, he tends to handle angry women better than sad ones. Having Tanya for a mother probably has something to do with it. It's easier to read their temperaments, predict what they'll do next and how best to skirt around any subjects that require caution, especially when he usually has to add the nearest weapon into that equation. It is Kyle, and by extension Aaron, who know what the cure is to make a woman stop crying. Kyle was infamous for being an unintentional ladies' man, and Aaron is always the one who can make Leann cheerful when she's feeling distressed (and Leonel, although he hates it whenever any of the other boys mentions it).

When Aria cries, which is almost never, it's much worse than Leann.

She's just as strong any of the other boys her age, with her short cut hair and calloused hands that can wield a sword just as well as a hoe, and more courageous besides. It helped him get used to her, especially since she was one of the few females that frequented his life. It was easy to pretend that she wasn't really a girl, just another boy he liked to play with. And Aria's short temper meant that she refused to shed tears without a justified cause.

He knows why she is hurt – it's because this is the first new breakthrough in their search for Kyle after nearly two years, and he acted like he didn't care. It's how he'll make it up to her that's the problem. Normally, he'd just apologize, but the fact that Aria is crying means he'll most likely just make things worse. He hates to leave her alone, but it's probably best to wait until she calms down before he tries to approach her again.

Still, even though he can't shake off the feeling of dread that swept him up earlier, he also can't suppress the feeling of hope that rises in his chest. Aria is clearly serious about this, as Aaron will be if he talks to him, he's sure. At the best opportunity, he'll tell her he's sorry and that he does care. Kyle is like an older brother to him, after all.

He just prays it's not false hope.

* * *

On the third winter, the secret gets out.

He's sharpening a knife in his room when a quake hits the village and he nearly chops off his thumb. It's the third one that week, and the adults are getting nervous; this has never happened for as long as anyone can remember.

"The children shouldn't go outside to play," Rosalind says at the next town meeting. "It's too dangerous. What if the next quake knocks over a tree and someone gets killed?"

"The monsters are getting agitated, too," Douglas grumbles, knocking his knuckles against the edge of the table. "They've been straying farther from those machines as of late. Can't take a step into the forest or the mountains without having one jump you."

A steady murmur rises through the crowded room. While Byron's household does make sense to hold a meeting, there isn't really much space for all the village adults to convene.

Tanya slams her fist down on the table, cutting into the noise. "Enough! Let's just cancel daily activities for a while. It's risky for the young ones to head all the way up to the school every morning, at any rate. Just close it down until the tremors subside."

"But what about their education?" Mana protested.

"I'm more worried about trying to figure out how they would catch up from all the possible missed schoolwork," Barrett says wryly and catches his eye. He squirms in his seat nervously. He's only just recently been recognized as being old enough to participate in these congregations, and he still feels misplaced, like he shouldn't be allowed to hear what and how the adults decide.

"Their education comes second only to their own health," Natalie says calmly. "Personally, I would feel much safer if Sera and Serena stay at home until we can at least determine the cause behind all this."

"But Natalie," says Alicia, "think about their age. They're still kids. Being stuck at home would be _boring_, and they wouldn't be able to help out in town. It's negatives all around."

Ray, who has been sitting next to him throughout the whole exchange, turns to him and smiles. "What do you think?" he asks gently.

He freezes. Not once since he has started attending has he been asked his opinion on a topic, and he has felt too awkward to voice anything on his own. Ray, however, must have noticed. Why else would he have brought him forward on the one subject that he would understand the best?

He clears his throat. While it's true that they're still kids, they've gotten older and a bit more responsible then when they attended school five years ago. Give them a bit of freedom, he says. Sooner or later, those kids will have to support this village on their own. They can't be allowed to keep depending on their parents forever, and it's time to start trusting them to handle the right choices. Everyone knows where the clinic is, and there are adults in the shops along every street. Barrett and Mana, he adds, are available virtually whenever and wherever when school isn't in session. He thinks the school can still stay open.

It's also, he thinks, the last remnant of Kyle other than the farm and his family. The last gift he gave to the village. They can't get rid of that so easily, just because of a little shake in the ground.

All around the room, heads are nodding and lips are moving in agreement. Gordon even claps his shoulder at a speech well done. "Speaking as a priest, those are few and far between, believe me," he adds with a wink.

Byron calls for a vote. The decision is unanimous: the school will stay open.

He's waiting outside the house for Tanya (who is busy arguing with Gordon and Douglas about whether it's a good idea to head to the Inn for a pint when they'd just finished discussing how precarious it is to be outside and there's a blizzard set to hit town tomorrow) when he sees Orland walking up the path with a surprisingly tense expression on his face. They don't normally talk, but he's in a good mood and besides, he's concerned. He calls out to him and asks him what's wrong.

Orland's shoulders jerk a bit in response to his voice, but quickly relax when he sees who's speaking to him. "Have you seen Aria or Aaron? I'm looking for them. Something's…come up," he adds meaningfully.

No, he hasn't. He wonders if there's a problem. At this point, all the other children in the village know Aria and Aaron's secret – it's impossible to keep their trips hidden for so long from the people they interact with the most. So far, everyone's agreed to keep silent, and only mention it if there's an emergency. Orland, in particular, has never let anything slip, unlike the other children who usually have to come up with a cover for their mistakes on the spot. Something like this happening is more than just unusual.

Orland eyes Byron's front door cautiously, then leans in and murmurs, "They went out to the dungeons."

He pulls back, alarmed. The twins had promised not to leave while the earthquakes occurred, because of the danger of a cave in or getting otherwise trapped. Did they sneak out?

There's a flicker of anger in Orland's eyes, a rare moment where he shows his emotions. "I told them not to, repeatedly. They didn't listen. Said there was something they needed to do – that they knew what was causing the earthquakes." He looked away. "I believed them, but that still didn't mean they could leave. I kept an eye on them yesterday, and they didn't try anything. But I've been asking around for them since this morning and no one's seen them."

He's heard Orland willingly speak more to him in the last five minutes then in all the time he's known him. He must really like the twins.

He's about to open his mouth to suggest they go looking for them together when the ground jolts from beneath his feet like a carpet and he hears something like a roar from deep underground. This isn't like the earlier quakes; the road is cracking and he and Orland have to cling to the fence on the side of the road to keep from falling flat on their faces. There's a split second of terror when he thinks the houses looming above are about to collapse, but then the quake subsides to a mild tremor before disappearing altogether and he manages to get back to his feet. He calls over to Orland and asks if he's alright.

"I'm fine," he answers. "Give me a second." A few minutes later, he stands up and brushes himself off. "That's the worst one we've had yet," he remarks, although the paleness of his skin betrays how shaken he is.

They should probably go around town and check up on everyone. It's become something of a habit this past year – whenever a new quake hits, everyone gets out of the shops and buildings and gathers in the main square in front of the bulletin board. It's a way to reassure themselves that no one's been injured or gotten stuck somewhere, and to send out a search group if someone's missing.

They get to the fountain to find Mana is in hysterics, with Cecilia and Alicia trying, and failing, to comfort her.

"I don't understand!" he hears Mana cry shrilly. "What do you _mean_ they aren't here?"

"Mana, please," Cecilia says, voice strained but still attempting to sound reassuring. "I'm sure they're fine, just a bit late, that's all."

"But no one knows where they are!" She is practically sobbing now. "I haven't seen them at all since last night; I thought they left for town early this morning because of the snow on the ground! And they're normally home before nightfall, oh, I was so stupid to think they were fine, I'm a horrible mother –"

"Mana, dear, don't say that," Alicia says sharply.

"It's true! Any normal person would have looked for them, and I thought I was so busy because I needed to get my lessons together and clean the house, so I didn't say anything –"

"Actually," Orland says, "they've been missing since this morning. I've been looking for them."

He's not sure if Orland sounded harsh accidentally, but regardless of his intention Mana finally loses it and wails into her hands.

"Orland!" Cecilia chastises him angrily. "What have I told you about being polite?"

"Sorry," he mutters.

They fall silent, Mana's hiccups the only sound that breaks through the air.

"Where are the others?" Orland asks eventually.

"The men went to search for Aria and Aaron," Alicia tells him. "That reminds me, we should go tell your father that you're alright, Mana. Douglas was worried sick."

The heavy atmosphere is killing him, so he hastily agrees to go look for them, departing before Mana or any of the others can stop him.

He runs down a street onto the main road, and before he realizes what he's doing he's headed toward Kyle's farm. As he gets closer, he can hear voices, Douglas' low rumble among them. He jogs a bit faster.

When he clears the hill, he can see Douglas talking with Tanya and Gordon, making wild gestures with his hands. He calls out and waves to get their attention.

"Roy, my boy! Glad to see you're still alive, eh?" Douglas thunders, although his tone lacks its usual cheeriness.

He explains about Mana, and Douglas gives him a tired smile. He looks old, or rather, he looks his age. "No word on my grandchildren, then?"

He shakes his head.

Tanya pounds him on the back. "Don't look so depressed, you old fool. They're your kin – stubborn, to be sure. It's not like them to die so easily."

The large man nods grimly and turns to Gordon to say something, but is interrupted by Barrett as he comes flying into their little circle, scarf fluttering behind him, and barely skids to a halt before crashing into anyone.

"What the devil?" Douglas exclaims. "Are you trying to ta kill yourself, lad?"

Barrett is too busy trying to catch his breath to respond.

"Did you find them?" Gordon asks, after giving him a moment to recover.

His teacher manages a nod, gulping for air while resting his hands on his knees.

"Yue…tipped me off…Aria's injured…needs treatment…Ray…"

"Where are they?" Tanya demands.

"Crossroads," Barrett gasps out.

"What on earth were they doing there? And – hey, Roy, where do you think you're going?"

He pays his mother no attention. He's launched himself down the path as fast as his legs can carry him. Aria, injured. Siblings at the crossroads.

This is bad. This is very, very bad.

He can see their trademark bright red hair from a mile away, and it's even easier to see with the snow on the ground. Aaron is supporting his sister, one of her arms draped over his shoulders. His face is scrunched up in pain, although he attempts a half-hearted smile that ends up as more of a grimace.

"I'm glad you're here. Could you help me carry her?" He nods at his sister. "We shouldn't really move her, but it's not a good idea to let her lie in the snow, either."

He lends him a hand, trying to work out how to support her between them until Aaron gives up and just lets him hold her princess-style.

"You really have gotten strong to be able to manage that," Aaron comments nonchalantly.

Aria's condition scares him. Her skin is cold and clammy, not helped by the temperature, and she hasn't responded to touch or any sound they've made. There are also dark, rusty stains on her clothes – dried blood, and lots of it. Aaron offers an explanation immediately.

"We were in the hidden dungeon, on the final level. What we found…I'm still not sure I can believe it." Aaron closes his eyes and presses a hand to his forehead. "It was Dad, but it also wasn't Dad. He sealed himself into Fiersome, that's why left five years ago. Did you know that? That was a stupid question, don't answer that. Anyway, we ended up fighting him – Fiersome – and the fight went really badly. We won, but Aria got really hurt because she took a hit for me, and Dad told me to teleport us back up here. And then he said he had to stay behind because he had to keep Fiersome in the spirit world and – and that's it. He's gone."

He falters when he has to say this, and it's clear how badly it hurts him to admit it.

"I've been keeping Aria's wounds closed with my magic, but I can't completely heal her because the fight drained me of most of my rune energy and I don't have anything to help me recover it. I –" He falters again. "I'm scared. I'm scared that Aria is gonna die. What if my magic isn't enough to help? What if we don't get her to Ray and Natalie in time? What if –"

Anxiety isn't going to help anyone, and he interrupts Aaron before he can continue his train of thought. Aria will be fine. She's more willful than any of them. As her brother, he should know that, shouldn't he?

Aaron seems surprised to receive a scolding from him, but eventually his face relaxes and a bit of the pain from overusing his magic recedes. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Ray arrives a few minutes later with Barrett, and together they get the twins to the clinic where Natalie is already waiting with Mana. When he sees the look on her face, he immediately excuses himself and waits outside Aria's door. While he does love his two red-heads, there are certain arguments between a mother and son where an outsider shouldn't be involved.

He knows that better than anyone.

* * *

After several hours, Ray opens the door and steps out, looking worn out but pleased.

"She'll be fine," he says. "The wounds were pretty deep, but it could have been much worse if Aaron hadn't applied first aid. Now she just needs rest." He eyes the door to the front room, where visitors are allowed to stay and where Mana and Aaron have been the entire time once Natalie finished tending to him. "Are they still at it?"

He's not sure. Now might be a good time, since they're quieter than they were an hour or two ago.

Ray nods his thanks and heads away.

Meanwhile, he mulls outside the now opened door, unsure what to do next. Aria does need sleep, and he'd hate to disturb her, but the truth is _he_ needs to see her to assure himself she's alright.

Aria makes his decision for him when she calls his name from inside the room.

She's sitting up in the bed, seemingly not bothered by her injuries despite the mass of bandages covering her neck and torso. She doesn't look at him as he enters, and it's then he remembers that he hasn't really had a chance to talk to her since their argument that day, between his training and her exploring.

Aria breaks the silence first.

"Ray told me what happened. Thanks for helping us."

Well, he didn't do anything, not really. Aaron was the one who was actually useful.

She shakes her head. "You helped more than you know. Ever since we talked that day, I kept wondering if there might be something in that dungeon, if you were right and I was wrong. I was really cautious, kept jumping at noises and all the monsters. But it was because I was so careful that I got Aaron out of the way of Fiersome's attack."

This is something he's confused about. Aaron mentioned Fiersome during the panic earlier, but he also said something about Kyle.

"The monster at the bottom of the dungeon," Aria specifies. "Aaron may have told you about it." She picks at the cotton blanket placed neatly over her legs. "All those quakes…they were Fiersome. We knew they were coming from somewhere deep in the dungeon, but it took us nearly a year to actually get there. When we did, well…" She catches herself in the midst of tearing off a loose string and stops. "At least now we know where Dad's been all these years."

It takes him a moment before it clicks.

Aria isn't looking at him anymore. "Every time we would turn a corner or find another staircase, I kept thinking, 'What if?' I thought back to what you said that day and how immature I acted. And you were right, too. I would never have forgiven myself if Aaron had got hurt. And – and Dad –"

She sounds like she's about to choke.

"He told us he was proud of us. He was glad we were his kids. But now he's gone. Not dead," she adds, catching the horrified look on his face. "Just sealed away with Fiersome. But he's going to be stuck there forever, until that seal breaks, which it _can't_ because otherwise that monster will get out and we'll have to fight it all over again. I don't think either of us could handle the same thing twice."

She gives a trembling sigh, puts her hands over her face and turns away from him, and he gets that sinking feeling in his gut that warns him he's unknowingly screwed up.

"I just…I keep wondering if I'd listened to you, then maybe I could stopped any of this from happening. If I'd taken your warning more seriously, then could I have stopped Aaron from having to go through all that? If I'd mentioned it to him, he would have worried about it. We would both have been on guard, and then maybe we'd have been more careful. I wasn't even as concerned as I should have been. And maybe we could have investigated the dungeon more thoroughly and figured out what happened to Dad in there before we fought him. We've made Mom worry, we've made everyone worry, and it's all for nothing. It's all my fault."

Even he, for all his insensitiveness, recognizes a guilt trip when he sees one. He knows why – in her eyes, Aria has lost her father, betrayed her mother, and could have gotten her brother killed. She blames herself, even though in his opinion they've both done everything they could.

"I was overconfident," she says to him. "I'm sorry." She doesn't look up, but he can see the smudges of tears on her face, and he reaches out to her before he can stop himself.

Don't be, please. You've already suffered enough.

In his arms, sobbing into his shirt, he can truly see how small her shoulders are.

* * *

Aaron calls for him after Aria falls asleep.

"Hi," the boy says as he walks in. "How's sis doing?"

Fine, he says. She's asleep in her room right now.

"That's good. Mom will be glad, she's been worried sick."

Aaron's voice is weary, exhausted. All the magic he used is now taking its toll, and no doubt the adults have interrogated him. Absently, the younger twin taps his heels against the legs of the stool he sat on. "I wonder if Dad planned this."

He looks at the other boy questioningly.

"When he disappeared…it was more like he was accepting what was happening than that he was surprised. He might have left that day without telling us because he knew that even if he failed, we could still stop Fiersome from awakening." Aaron stops his tapping, looking at the floor. "I'm going to get him back."

He says nothing, just continues to look at the younger boy intently.

"We were close, you know? We looked and looked, and we fought monsters, and we got a lot stronger than when we started school. And we found him, only we couldn't save him." He rests his chin on his knees and leans against the countertop. "All that work, and for nothing. But I won't let it be. There's a way to get him back, I know it. I mean, we were right that Dad was alive. He still is, just in a different place, far away. I'm sure there's a way to bring him home, and I'm going to find it."

It's rare, he thinks, to see Aaron have an expression that so resembles that of his sister.

Well, if anyone can find a solution, it'll be them, that much he's sure.

He knows he's right when, a season after Ray lets Aria out of the hospital, he visits the farm to see Kyle hugging Mana on the front doorstep while she weeps.

* * *

After Kyle's return, the village goes back to the peaceful atmosphere it had before the whole mess started. School starts up again and there are even some new travelers who stop by the inn, much to Jake's distaste. (Cecilia disapproves of his behavior. She thinks he's setting a bad example for Orland.)

Yue starts visiting town more often. According to Aaron, she's appreciating the new flow of business. "It has something to do with appeal, I think," he tells him, "although I'm still not sure what."

Aaron can afford to keep his naiveté for a little while longer.

The twins have been banned from adventuring by both their parents and the village at large for nearly a year since the incident, although the other children can see how unhappy they are when they're forced to stay at home. Neither of the twins dares to break the rules anymore, though, as both seem to think Kyle's homecoming is a good enough reward as it is.

Kyle himself, however, is slightly uncomfortable with the decision.

"I hate to admit it, but we got more income from their mining and fishing in the dungeons than just with our crops. Don't tell Mana I said that," he adds hastily. They're conversing over Kyle's purchase of a new sword, as apparently the weapons his children used are too small and short for him. "Besides, I enjoy adventure, so why wouldn't they?"

It makes him wonder. The twins are clearly miserable, despite their protests to the contrary – Leonel described them as physically _drooping_ at one point. And while technically all the children, including himself, are no longer children anymore, Aria and Aaron still get treated as such. He can't help but think it's unfair.

And then he considers whether there may actually be something he can do about it now.

He isn't the same young boy who thought the world revolved around climbing trees and having fun. He isn't the same person, rather. This new insight doesn't surprise as much as he thought it would.

So he tries, for the first time in years, to persuade the adults to listen to what he has to say. And they do, to his astonishment. He thinks it's because he towers over a good number of them now, but Tanya tells him that's not the case.

"It's because you've matured, you idiot," she grins.

His efforts win him the support of several villagers. Gordon, Kyle, and Tanya have all been against the idea to begin with, and Ray and Maxwell also side with him after some negotiation. It's the mothers and housewives that he can't win over. Mana in particular is against it, with Alicia and Cecilia backing her up, and Douglas can't refuse her despite that he thinks maybe she's being overprotective. But he also can't blame them, since they're parents, after all. Unsure of what to do next, he goes to Cammy for advice.

"Just leave it to me!" she says after listening to his explanation, and winks.

He doesn't get a chance to ask what the hell she means before she skips away. Given no other choice, he waits.

And slowly, bit by bit, the wives begin to support him. First Dorothy agrees, then Cecilia and Rosalind. Even Natalie eventually caves, which surprises both her son and daughter-in-law. For the life of him, he can't understand it.

Cammy explains it to him when he catches her in the square.

"It's the kids," she says simply. "We're not the only ones who've gotten old enough to voice their opinion, you know."

It makes so, so much sense that he wonders why he didn't see it before. Cammy and Leonel won over Dorothy, and Orland would have been able to convince Cecilia just by saying he had an opinion at all. Gentle Leann would know how to handle Rosalind, and Natalie could never refuse her granddaughters.

It all comes together when he runs into Mana on his way home.

"All right," she says, grudgingly. "But only if they agree to come home by ten and they tell me or Kyle when they leave."

It's not a perfect victory, but he's more than satisfied.

* * *

Aria and Aaron appear much happier once they're told they can continue dungeon exploring, and it's a relief to all the students that they're back to their old selves. He doesn't expect them to thank him so profusely, however.

"Cammy told us how you worked so hard for us," Aaron tells him. "Really, we can never repay this."

He's also treated differently in town, now. People ask him for his opinion more often at town meetings, and the older men even invite him for a drink once or twice. Gordon laughs good-naturedly when he splutters that he's never had alcohol before.

"It's a lesson in reward," Tanya says to him over the forging fire. "The more effort you put into something, the more you gain in return." She emphasizes her point by giving her current project, a stout iron shield, a ringing strike.

It's seems like a finality. He's an _adult_ now. He doesn't feel any different, but he knows that he is. It's a strange concept.

"I guess you could say it's like your birthday, huh?" Aria supplies as they walk. It's something of a routine they've picked up again from their childhood. At the end of the day, when she and Aaron return from the dungeons, he walks her home. He doesn't question what Aaron is doing – Cammy was the one who gave him this nice piece of information, after all.

Aria catches his bewildered expression. "You know when it's your birthday, your age changes but you don't feel any different? I think it's like that."

It makes sense, he supposes.

Aria laughs. "But time really has passed by. Wow, you're old enough to get married now."

Actually, he's been of marriageable age for several years now, but he's been so busy with everything that's happened that he's never paid it any attention before.

Marriage, he thinks, and trails to a halt.

If he's honest, that's not true. He's thought about it hard. He understands the consequences – Kyle and Aaron will most definitely not be happy, Tanya will be disbelieving and Cammy will be jealous because she wants Aaron to get his act together because she's too much of a romantic to do it herself – but he feels that he's waited long enough. He's an adult now, so he needs to be responsible. The choice is his alone.

Seeing he's stopped walking, Aria pauses midstride and looks at him questioningly.

Carefully, he reaches over and takes her hand, shuffling over so he's standing in front her. He can't bring himself to see what her reaction is, instead staring at a tree on the side of the path.

"Will you stay by my side?"

When he finally finds the nerve to look back at her eyes, the smile she gives him fills him with relief. She raises her face to his, and he doesn't pull away.

It's alright to be aware of her now.

* * *

**A/N: My fics have been mutating out of my control lately. You know this went from the originally planned four pages to _twenty_ on MW? The characters just don't want to listen to the magic hand that is the author. Little punks, this is why I haven't been able to update lately.**

**Confession time - I haven't actually beaten this game, just skimmed over the walkthrough on IGN. From what I understand of the requirements, though, I doubt it'll be happening any time soon. (Although I have beaten the original RF, thanks to a strategy guide.) I apologize for any discrepancies.**

**Something of a mythology gag: in the original Rune Factory game, there's a side quest involving the priest's – Wesley's – rosary that Raguna is asked to search for. Turns out it's a prank by Nicholas, Cecilia's love interest in that game (the kid's a Casanova – they're what, five years old?), who hid it in the women's side of the bathhouse. If you talk to Melody, the bathhouse owner, she tells you to come back for it on a rainy or snowy weekend. In my case, this involved a lot of resetting. Stupid game.**

**Roy needs more love. As of this post, there are five pieces of fanfiction on this site that I can find that involve him as a character. Out of those five, I think two are Roy/Aria.**

**_People_. _Seriously_. Write more so that I may satisfy my freaking cravings, please and thank you.**

**Hope you enjoyed the read!**


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